File envelope having side-by-side extensible pockets



United States Patent Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented FILE ENVELOPEHAVING SlDE-BY-SIDE EXTENSIBLE POCKETS 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 229/72 Int. Cl B6501] 27/08 Field of Search 229/72 ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1919 Belcher 2,749,021 6/1956l-liersteiner 3,236,439 2/1966 Johnsonetal...

ABSTRACT: A file envelope having side-by-side extensible pockets andformed from a one-piece integral paper blank withfold lines to define afront wall, a pair of partial rear walls connected to opposite lateraledges of the front wall by accordion pleats, one of said rear wallsterminating at its inner edge in a.divider having an accordion pleat anda gummed strip adhered to the central part of the front wall, the otherrear wall overlying the inner edge of said first rear wall and beingadhered thereto, a bottom flap connected to said front wall by anaccordion pleat and folded over the bottom edges of said rear walls, anda top flap connected to the upper edge of said front wall by anaccordion pleat and foldable over the upper edges of said rear walls.

Patented Nov. 17, 1970 INVI'IN'I'UR. K/ZLE JOHN w m 4m f FILE ENVELOPEHAVING SIDE-BY-SIDE EXTENSIBLE POCKETS This invention relates to a fileenvelope having side-by-side pockets which are extensible and intendedto receive and store miscellaneous small papers such as bills, receipts,and the like.

The average householder is plagued over the period of a year withnumerous bills which are printed on undersized sheets of paper, orIBM-type cards. These, because of their small and varying sizes, cannotbe readily filed, or stored. As a result, some of these bills, ornotices, are lost when needed for payment, or reference. Such losses areannoying and lead to time-consuming attempts to replace them, as well asnegate any possibility of maintaining complete records which will yieldthe annual total cost of electricity, gas, telephone, insurance, water,sewage, and other taxes.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide anenvelope, or file, having expansible pockets of small size placedside-by-side and adapted to snugly hold bills, invoices,

receipts, and similar undersized papers of varying size and shape, andto support these papers so that they may be readily available forreference purposes with, or without, complete removal from the envelope.

Another object of the invention is to provide a file envelope, havingthe above described characteristics, which is so constructed that it maybe economically formed from a single, unitary paper-blank.

A further object of the invention is to provide a file envelope, havingthe above described characteristics, wherein the expansible pockets arerendered expansible by accordion pleats integrally formed in said blank,the walls of said pockets yielding to receive additional bills andvouchers, and contracting to hold these bills and vouchers firmlywhether the pockets are full, or'empty; or in any intermediatecondition.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide. a file envelope,having the above described characteristics, which may be carried fromplace-to-place within the household, or outside, without danger of thecontents spilling out of the described pockets, a top flap covering theentrance openings to the pockets being provided and which top flap maybe secured in closed position by any conventional means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tile envelope,

having the above described characteristics, which is of simple andeconomical construction, and easy to fabricate and use.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a strong fileenvelope, having the above described characteristics, in which thepockets are considerably smaller in area than the envelope and thus, areadapted to retain undersized papers, each of the pockets being readilyaccessible through an opening at the top, the pockets being placedlaterally side-by-side.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of the inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention,itself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of a specificembodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout theseveral FIGS, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a file envelope according to theinvention in which the top flap has been raised to opened position;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and lookinginthe direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1, and lookingin-the direction of the arrows; and

FIG, 4 is a plan view of the single integral paper blank from which theenvelope is formed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the improved envelope,generally indicated by the reference numeral 10, is formed from a singleintegral paper blank shaped as illustrated in FIG. 4, to provide a frontwall portion 12 of rectangular shape and of a size suitable forreception in conventional file drawers and cabinets. A rear wallportion, ap-

proximately half the size of the front wall portion, isshown at 14 andis connected by three, or more, scored fold lines 16 to one lateral edgeof the front wall portion. The free edge of said rear wall portionterminates in a gummed strip 18 connected to said rear wall portion byscored fold lines 20 forming another accordion pleat when folded. To theopposite lateral edge of the front wall portion 12 is secured a secondrear wall portion 22 of about thesame size as the wall portion 14. Wall22 is connected to the front wall portion by scored fold lines 24 which,when folded, form an accordion pleat, and the free edge of said rearwall portion 22 is terminated in a gummed strip 26. I 1

A bottom flap 28 is connected to the bottom edge of the front wall 12 byscored fold lines 30, and this bottom flap is preferably of narrowheight and terminates in a narrow gummed strip 32. Similarly, a top flap34 of slightly greater height is connected to the upper edge of thefront wall portion 12 by means of scored fold lines 36 and its free edgeis provided with a gummed strip 38.

Each of the rear wall portions 14, 22 is provided in its upper edge witha curved indentation, or recess 40. v

To form the file envelope 10 from the integral single blank of FIG. 4described above, it is merely necessary to fold the scored lines 16 toform an expansible, accordion pleat and move the rear wall portion 14 tooverlie the front wall portion 12. Fold lines 20 are also folded inalternate fashion to form an accordion pleat and the gummed strip 18 iswetted and adhered to the rear face of the front wall portion 12.Similarly, the rear wall portion 22 is folded to overlie the front wallportion 12 and its gummed strip 26 is wetted to adhere to the inner edgeof the.rear wall portion 14. Next, the fold lines30 are accordionpleated and the gummed strip 32 is adhered to the rear faces of the rearwalls 14, 22 at their bottom edges. Finally, the fold lines 36 at thetop of the front wall portion 12 are alternately folded to form anaccordion pleat so that the top flap 34 may be bent to overlie the rearfaces of the rear wall portions 14, 22. The gummed strip 38 is leftunwet until such time as it is wished to seal papers within theenvelope.

The envelope formed in the described manner is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3as having a pair of pockets 42, 44 formed between the front and rearwall portions. These pockets are side-by-side and are separated by adivider portion which is primarily the accordion pleat formed by thefold lines 20. The outer lateral sides'of the pockets 42, 44 are closedby the accordion pleats formed by fold lines 16, 24, and the bottom ofboth pockets is closed by the accordion pleat formed by the fold lines30. By virtue of the various accordion pleats closing all sides of thepockets 42, 44 except the upper open sides, the envelope will lie flatwith the rear wall portions 14, 22 juxtaposed next to the front wallportion 12 until such time as vouchers, or bills, are tiled in thepockets. The pockets will expand upon such filing to take a considerablenumber of papers, each of which being smaller than the pocket, isreadily accepted and firmly held by the tension in the accordion pleats.The curved recesses 40 at the tops of the two pockets permit readyinsertion of small papers and ready access for removal thereof, or forreference thereto.

In order that the file envelope may be used as an individual carryingcase, the gummed strip 38 may be wetted and adhered to the rear faces ofthe wall portions 14, 22, and the envelope may then be carried fromplace-to-place. If desired, it will be obvious that in place of adheringthe top flap, it may be tied, or secured in its closed position by anyconventional means, such as strings, buttons, or the like.

In operation, the data to be filed away in the envelope, or to beindividually carried therein, is placed in the expansible pockets 42,44. As data accumulates in the pockets, their walls are pushed out, orexpanded, against the resilience of the corrugated accordion pleatswhich define their lateral and bottom sides. When bills, or vouchers,are removed from a pocket, the accordion pleats contract and the frontand rear walls of the pocket compress the remaining bills therein tohold them firmly.

To refer to any particular data placed in the pockets 41%, it is notnecessary to remove all of the bills, or vouchers, therefrom, but merelyto spread the papers sufficiently at their upper edges to recognize andselect the desired paper, which then may be inspected, lifted partially,or completely removed from the pockets without disturbing the otherdocuments. The curved indentations, or recesses, 40 permit a paper to bethus inspected upon partial lifting to a minimum height in the pocket.

Although a certain specific embodiment of the invention has been shownand described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof arepossible. The invention, therefore, is not intended to be restricted tothe exact showing of the drawing and description thereof, but isconsidered to include reasonable and obvious equivalents.

lclaim:

l. A file envelope having side-by-side pockets, comprising a front wallportion, a pair of rear wall portions connected to opposite lateraledges of the front wall portion by accordion pleats, one of said rearwall portions terminating at its inner edge in a central divider portionhaving an accordion pleat and a gumm ed strip adhered to a central partof the rear face of the front wall portion, the other of said rear wallportions overlying the inner edge of said one rear wall portion andbeing adhered thereto, and a bottom flap connected to said front wallportion by an accordion pleat and being adhered to the bottom edges ofsaid pair of rear wall portions, whereby to define a pair of extensible,side-by-side pockets between said front and rear wall portions andseparated by said divider portion.

2.. A file envelope according to claim 1, wherein a top flap isconnected to the top edge of said front wall portion by an accordionpleat arid is adapted to be folded to overlie the top edges of the rearfaces of said rear wall portions.

3. A file envelope according to claim 1, wherein curved indentations areprovided in the upper edge of each of said rear wall portions to enableeasier access to papers stored in said pockets.

4. A file envelope according to claim 1, formed of a single blank havingscored fold lines which define said front and rear wall portions, saidaccordion pleats, said divider portion and said bottom flap.

5. A file envelope according to claim 2, formed of a single blank havingscored fold lines which define said front and rear wall portions, saiddivider portion, said accordion pleats and said bottom and top flaps,all of which are integrally formed in the single blank.

